Ever Increasing Insanity
by S.S. Reason
Summary: Dramione. “Now what?” one asks. “I don’t know, how about you tell me.” The silence grows with the sun and they part on voiceless terms. Things are changing. Things have changed.
1. Beginnings

For the 100 Prompt Challenges challenge. Each chapter will get a hundred words longer for 100 chapters that all have one word prompts (their titles). Enjoy.

Ship: Dramione.

**1. Beginnings**

The fine line. The moment it crosses is at the crack of dawn on a fresh winter morning. Where a stroll around the Quidditch pitch finds them together; for the first time they are away from enemies, away from friends.

Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy, and this may sound strange, but what they do is talk. No snide remarks or seething hatred. There are simply words exchanged, even beyond pleasantries.

"Now what?" one asks.

"I don't know, how about you tell me."

The silence grows with the sun and they part on voiceless terms. Things are changing. Things have changed.


	2. Hours

**2. Hours**

It's ten now, Hermione is in Arithmacy, and time seems to be slipping. They still haven't spoken and she wonders how many more hours she can take.

Why was it that before this morning they hated each other and could hardly spend a moment's thought upon the other, and now, it was all that invaded their minds?

She wonders if he's thinking about her, too. About what happened that morning and why he seemed so different. It was hard to believe that she had actually held a conversation that resembled something of a decent sort with Malfoy.

Had she lost her mind, or had he?

By dinner she's not sure if she's evading him or vice versa or both. After all, she wouldn't put it passed her own mind to want to protect itself from excessive insanity.

So, as the twilight hours disappear into night, she made careful aim to avoid him, and made it safely into her common room where she would disappear for the night, and hope that the 24 hours of tomorrow would pass peaceably. But something nagged at her an incessant annoying feeling that said she should go to him.

It had to be her mind.


	3. Red

**3. Red**

Friday went by and there was no interaction. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief before bed, though still unnerved that she had need of avoiding Draco Malfoy at all, and for what reason? Her thoughts scampered away like guppies in a glass tank tapped against, and she fell asleep.

When she awakes Saturday morning, the first thing she does is remind herself to wear school colours. Red and gold. She does not want to, she hardly supports the Quidditch fanatics, but with two best friends who are exactly that, she can hardly opt out. At breakfast, almost everyone shows their pride of the two teams that will be playing, Ravenclaw vrs Gryffindor. All she sees about her is a sea of red and gold.

"Nice to see your school spirit," Harry says bright-eyed.

"Thanks," she responds automatically. "Where's Ron?"

"Being nervous for the game. Said he'd be down in a few."

She shakes her head at Ron's ridiculousness, and unfortunately, catches sight of the Slytherin table as she glances around for the red head. Her eyes catch the silver-eyed Slytherin, and she wonders if he had just happened to look up just then too, or if he had been watching her the whole time.

Now she can't concentrate on anything else but finding out which.

"You alright?" Harry's words cut in her overt staring.

"Oh." She looks away. "Fine. Just looking for Ron."

A sly grin that he doesn't think she registers crosses his face and he nods, quickly turning away from her. That grin saying that she wants Ron.

Well, that was a completely different issue aside from the one that seemed to be staring at her.

Ron appears and she forces him a piece of toast. "Now get going, I'll meet you two after the game. Good luck."


	4. Purple

**4. Purple**

Through clenched teeth he growls for the one with the purple scarf, the one who's directly in his line of sight, to sit the hell down. He doesn't. If Draco Malfoy believed in karma, this would be his. If he believed that things happened for a reason, he might give up and just look up to the Quidditch game overhead instead of what he was really after.

"Oi!" he yells again. "Sit the fuck down!"

Under his breath he calls him a wanker. Someone next to the boy, in an equally ugly purple scarf, yanks on the boy's hand and says something, pointing to Draco. The boy sits. Draco loosens his grip on his wand and picks up his binoculars. And with quite the stalker-esque, points them directly at the girl on the other side of pitch.

Her gaze is up to the game; she has no binoculars and so probably can only see blurred figures gracing the sky in flight. To his great surprise, she wears her team's colours around her neck. She had not done that when only Harry Potter had played, he takes note.

Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger a thing? he ponders. Didn't seem completely unlikely.

He focused the gaze tighter on the binocular dials and watched her reactions to the game. Watched her gasp as bludgers nearly hit into the players and see her excitement when the snitch could be seen for a few brief moments before it flew away again.

Nothing in Draco's head told him this was wrong, to stare at Granger like he was. It seemed to him the only logical thing to do. When a girl, any girl, but mostly the particular ones, when they proved themselves to be more trouble than they had seemed, he always had to assess the situation.

It had hardly anything to do with lust, though obsession does directly play to that. It was his need to analyze her, and see if all the little quirks that she possessed were even worth his time, let alone, a Malfoy's time.

He wondered, What exactly was going through that intelligent brain of hers? It seemed like she could hardly keep enough away from him, or if they were in the same room, could hardly stay away at all. Why did she do the things she did? Was she only just the prissy know-it-all, or was there something more?


	5. Friends

**5. Friends**

Hermione knew that she did not have a lot of friends, but the two that she did, they were the best anyone could ever ask for, when they were not being completely ridiculous of course. They had been with her for ages it seems, stuck with her through times that they probably shouldn't have.

That was the only reason why Hermione was feeling so guilty about them. But they couldn't know about what was going on in her head…whatever that was. They really couldn't.

It would be another of those times that they probably shouldn't stick with her through, especially from all that Malfoy had put them through daily. And a time that they probably wouldn't, and she did not know how she could handle without them.

But they would find out eventually, and what then? They would feel betrayed and hurt and would tell her off then. But how could she ever get them to approve of...She rolled her eyes at herself. Nothing was even happening between her and Draco. She was being an obsessive fool. And for Draco Malfoy…how ridiculous her mind seemed to have turned. Where was the logic in liking the Slytherin who had tormented her for so many years.

She could wait to tell the boys. Wait until there was something to tell. Mere thoughts didn't warrant a big hype as this was going to stir. But that left only what was to tell. Could she just drop the whole thing? It seemed she could not. It was proving more impossible each day. And what would happen when it became unbearable? Would she corner him first and demand an explanation for that morning? Or maybe…he would confront her first? Her mind whirled and she stood up and started to pace.

_Damn him_, she thought. She blamed him for this. Maybe it had been a spell…but no, she had been down this path of thought already, and none of it had made sense. Though nothing did make sense at all anymore. Going mad was not an enjoyable sensation.

She glanced out the open window and heard to sounds of a team practicing on the pitch. She knew it had to be either Slytherin or Hufflepuff since the team captains of the two that had played today were very unlikely to send their team out to practice right after a match. She listened harder and made out Crabbe's deep voice.

She began to wonder if Malfoy even liked playing or if he had only joined the team to beat Harry. He was hardly as good as Harry, though definitely far better than Ron. She grimaced at herself for thinking that way, how could she?

Her stomach turned uneasily. What was he doing to her? She moved away from the window, and snatched her jacket from the couch. She felt the very sudden urge for a walk about the lake, though she would be sure to say far away from the Quidditch pitch, she was certain of that.


End file.
